After A Firestorm Of Criticism, Twitter Reinstates The Account Of The Journalist Who Tweeted An NBC Exec's Email

Twitter wanted to be part of the story of
this year's Olympics in London through its partnership with
NBC. It got its wish—but for the wrong reasons.

It just restored the account of Guy Adams, the LA
correspondent for The Independent, a British newspaper, after
suspending it for three days—three days during which Twitter
faced a firestorm of accusations of censorship and
favoritism towards a big corporate partner.

Lots of companies routinely get accused of censorship,
sometimes fairly, sometimes less so. But Twitter has repeatedly
stuck its neck out as a force for good in the world and an active
fighter against censorship, publishing reports about governmental
and corporate efforts to suppress tweets.

We've repeatedly asked Twitter for comment on its suspension of
Adams account, and they haven't come forward with a statement
yet. We think that in itself is a story.

Adams had been vociferously critical of NBC's decision to delay
its broadcast of the games' opening ceremonies until U.S.
primetime. He got a bit ranty, and at one point urged his
followers to email Gary Zenkel, the NBC Sports executive in
charge of the Olympics broadcast, and posted Zenkel's email
address.

In Twitter's opinion, that violated a rule against posting
private information, and it
suspended Adams's account after NBC reported the tweet.

But the exact circumstances are fascinating. NBC
now says Twitter urged the broadcaster to report the post as
a violation so Twitter could enforce its rules against the
British journalist. (Like most Internet companies, Twitter
doesn't proactively monitor its service for violations; it relies
on user reports.)

Hear that sound? That's NBC throwing Twitter under the bus.

Adams also reports that NBC provided contact information for a
Twitter PR rep, Rachael Horwitz, in an email about the incident.
(Horwitz is responsible for publicizing Twitter's media
partnerships.)

So here's our theory: Twitter's first instinct was to circle the
wagons. Twitter's communications team had become part of the
story—that's never a good thing.

The whole point of its Olympics deal was to showcase how well
Twitter could partner with other media organizations to their
mutual advantages—and instead we saw a relationship under strain.

And a core cultural value of Twitter—free speech—came under
question. For a lot of Twitter employees, free speech isn't a
talking point—it's part of the mission they signed up for by
joining the company.

We're surely this decision was hugely contentious within
Twitter's headquarters. So whatever response the company comes up
with is going to be carefully parsed.

Update: An earlier version of this
story mischaracterized who had mentioned Horwitz, the Twitter PR
rep. It was NBC, not Twitter. Business
Insider regrets the error.